The city is reviewing a permit application for a $90 million construction project to develop the Boeing South Yard at 13240 Wing Lane on land leased at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville.
The building would boost The Boeing Co.’s leased space at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville to more than 1.1 million square feet, at least for now.
Boeing plans to vacate its legacy facilities on the Westside and relocate its operations but the transition schedule is being determined.
Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority owns and operates Cecil Airport.
Jacksonville-based Haskell is the contractor, and Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties is the developer of the south yard expansion.
Plans show the 201,714-square-foot four-bay hangar building on 35.8 acres.
The project will consist of a maintenance, repair and overhaul – MRO – facility for KC-46A aircraft.
The project includes completion of an off-taxiway concrete apron with four aircraft positions and the pre-engineered fabric membrane hangar.
JAA Marketing and Public Relations Manager Greg Willis said June 15 that the authority executed a ground lease in January with Scannell.
Willis said Scannell is working with Boeing to deliver up to 200,000 square feet of additional hangar space to further support the aircraft manufacturer’s MRO operations at Cecil.
The lease is for 20 years and can be extended for a total of 40 years.
That lease says that based on 33.9 acres, the gross rent starts at $369,171 a year and then increases 3% a year for the second through fifth years and 2.25% for years six through 40.
Scannell, who will lease the land from JAA and sublease the property to Boeing, has to spend at least $40 million on the design and construction of the project, the lease says.
The site is to the south of and next to Boeing’s existing Shockwave campus.
Scannell is an Indianapolis-based privately owned commercial real estate development company that specializes in build-to-suit and speculative commercial projects. It has several projects in Northeast Florida.
Cecil Airport is about 15 miles west of Downtown and is one of JAA’s four airports. The authority considers the facilities as “ideally suited for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations and a variety of aviation-related industrial and commercial development.”
The airport is part of the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, which closed in 1999. The aviation facilities were transferred to JAA, while the city of Jacksonville owns the industrial property for development with master developer Hillwood as AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.
JAA says that of the 17,000 acres deeded to the city, 6,000 acres were transferred to JAA to operate as a general aviation reliever airport. JAA also operates Jacksonville International Airport and Craig and Herlong airports.
Cecil Airport has four 200-foot wide runways, with one of them 12,500 feet in length, one of the longest in Florida.
Shockwave
Boeing opened the initial $245.8 million Shockwave facility, designed to attract other aeronautics and space companies to Jacksonville, on Feb. 9 with a ribbon-cutting.
That deal began in 2020, when JAA responded to a Boeing request for proposal under the code name “Project Shockwave” for a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility with offices and support space.
When Boeing signed a 25-year lease agreement with JAA in December 2020 to expand the company’s operations at Cecil, the city provided Boeing with a $425,000 grant to assist with the estimated $3 million in infrastructure expenditures for the project over three years.
The completed 385,000-square-foot facility at 5658 Approach Road handles structural repairs and avionics upgrades.
That MRO hangar was developed to accommodate P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, KC-46 refueler/transport planes and F/A-18 Super Hornet jets, including those flown by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.
Boeing Global Services CEO Ted Colbert said at an October 2021 ground-breaking that the eight-hangar facility will be the aviation industry’s “first digitally enabled” maintenance repair and overhaul site.
Colbert told federal, state and city officials that the project will allow Boeing to understand the maintenance and repair needs of U.S. military aircraft before they land at Cecil.
The project was a partnership between Boeing, JAA and the city.
Boeing said the Shockwave facility and an adjacent Component Operations Repair facility would create more than 300 jobs.
The company listed the cost of the MRO at $188.5 million. The facility features eight hangar bays along with 110,000 square feet of office and support space. It can accommodate up to eight P-8 aircraft, and its ramp area can hold as many as 14 fighter jets.
The Haskell Co. was the contractor on the MRO hangar.
Components Operations Repair
Chicago-based Clayco Construction Co. Inc. is the contractor for the Component Operations Repair center, which is in development.
The city approved a permit May 31, 2023, for the component operations center at a project cost of $39 million.
Boeing has listed the cost of the component operations facility at $57.3 million.
The roughly 150,000-square-foot building is at 5869 Approach Road, across the street from the MRO facility.
JAA is the landlord for that project, which is being developed for the repair and servicing of aircraft components and will consist of a large general work area, specialized work areas, and break, office, meeting and training spaces.
The exterior includes a loading dock and service area, lift station, parking lot, service roads and an outdoor storage area for waste and materials.
It specializes in repairing flight control surfaces and parts for F/A-18 and KC-46 aircraft.
Ongoing leases
Boeing continues to lease – for now – six facilities totaling 402,335 square feet of space on the west side of the airfield.
Those facilities provide mission support, aircraft maintenance, engineering and training for the U.S. Navy and other military and civilian aviation interests.
The JAXUSA Partnership economic-development division of JAX Chamber says Boeing has 400 employees in Jacksonville.
Classified as advanced manufacturing in space and defense technologies, Boeing is considered one of the chamber and city’s targeted industries.
Outside Cecil Airport, Boeing opened its Boeing Jacksonville Training Systems Center of Excellence in West Jacksonville in September 2021.
The aerospace company developed the 23,000-square-foot center at 6225 Lake Gray Blvd. in Lake Gray Plaza.
Boeing said at the time that the virtual maintenance training center for military aircraft, including the U.S. Navy’s P-8 fleet based in Florida, “increases Boeing’s competitive edge while serving the Navy’s mission-ready requirements.”
The city issued a permit in March 2021 for Tenant Contractors Inc. to renovate the space at a cost of $400,000.
Boeing said that in addition to P-8 and F/A-18 virtual maintenance and engineering simulators, the renovated facility includes four conference rooms and two classrooms.
“With this opening, Boeing is expected to add new P-8 aircrew trainer positions in Jacksonville,” it said.
Boeing describes itself as a global aerospace company.
The company said in February 2021:
“In the Jacksonville area, specifically Cecil Airport and Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Boeing supports the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy with maintenance, repair and overhaul work as well as comprehensive training for various aircraft and products so they meet mission requirements.”
Boeing said it developed and supports the U.S. Navy’s P-8A Training Facility at NAS Jacksonville, which also is in West Jacksonville.
It also said teams at Boeing Cecil Field support the F/A-18 A-D Hornet, F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
In December 2020, Boeing and the JAA announced the agreement for the new hangar and office space at Cecil Airport that eventually will replace the existing Boeing Cecil Field site footprint, although it continues to use that space.
Willis said that the transition schedule will be determined.